Repentance and seeking forgiveness: the effects of spiritual therapy based on Islamic tenets to improve mental health

ABSTRACT

For years, spirituality has been utilised by many as an asset to improve mental and physical health. This study creates a valid argument that Islamic teachings specifically can have a notable effect on students’ overall health. This particular therapy originates from the Islamic concept of soul purification/cleansing (otherwise known as: tazkiyah al-nafs). The reason behind this was to evaluate the impact of tawba (meaning repentance) and istighfar (forgiveness) therapy for improving mental health in a selected group of Muslim college students. Participants were expected to attend eight consecutive sessions exploring both tawba and istighfar therapy. Both before they trialled the treatment and once they had completed it, all participants were also required to complete the ‘Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education’ (SEHS-HE). We concluded that in general this programme was in fact successful in improving the overall mental and even physical health in our select group of Islam practising students.

KEYWORDS:

• Islam
• mental health
• religion
• spirituality
• spiritual therapy
• tawba and istighfar

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Departemen Penelitian dan Pengabdian pada Masyarakat Universitas Islam Indonesia: [Grant Number -083/Dir/DPPM/70/Pen.Unggulan/PII/VIII/2016].